Financing Your Training

[Rob]

Hello

 

I work 32 hours a weekend, at an FBO in Montreal. I do this cause I can't work during the week due to college, and I fly once a week. Its awesome that one hour I log, would love to fly more, but I don't want to kill myself working anymore lol. The 32 hours doesn't even pay for one hour so I got a 10,000 dollar line or credit and just take the difference from there.

 

Soon I will be a commercial pilot, then I will look back and know that all this hard work has paid off!

 

Its a drug and I can't let it go!

 

Rob

[dammyneckhurts]

I worked my *** off for about 10 months straight....pretty much 7 days a week, and lots of nights also. Did as much overtime and as many extra odd jobs as I could find. The wife hated it let me tell you. Lots of the odd jobs were for cash and every time I amassed another thousand dollars I put it in the bank. I kinda looked at it as 1000 dollars at a time and just kept hammering away to get to the next grand, then off to the bank with a big smile on my face.

 

I cut any extra spending to zero, almost no nights out and lived as cheap as we could. Saved about 70% of the cost in those 10 months and took a loan for the rest. Paid the loan back in 12 months (had a 3 year term) again by working some overtime and cutting back on spending.

 

Was not so easy as a married guy, but I would say it definatly the way to go if your single. It would really suck to come out of flight school today with a fresh licence, no job prospects and 50 G in the hole. (or whatever it costs these days)

 

Another BIG tip for anyone about to take the plunge.....6 months before you start flight school get all the books you need for the ground studies. Read them back to front several times and get a major headstart on the ground school.

 

Your head can only absorb so much information in a day and filling it up by learning about weather and air regs in the morning doesnt leave you much brain space if you are going flying later in the day. At the cost of flight training today you want to maximize every minute of it.